A collection of celebrity photographs by MARCIA RESNICK

Opening Reception:

Friday, September 25, 2007   7 – 10PM

Artist will be present

The show will run from September 25th thru November 12th.

Gallery hours are Wed. and Thu., 1PM–7PM, or by appointment

 

Gallery Statement

Photography has a unique ability to capture the essence of a time; perhaps more so than any other medium; and Marcia Resnick's photographs do exactly that. In a time when the spirit of New York City was woven into a tapestry of collective consciousness that included such diverse souls as Andy Worhol, Johnny Thunders, John Belushi, Iggy Pop and William Borroughs, Marcia Resnick was there with her camera, piecing it all together into what now amounts to an amazing body of work entitled "Punks, Poets & Politicians". Well known in these circles herself, she was trusted to capture the faces of the major players of NYC arts and politics. As you can imagine, there is a rich story in every one of these photographs and an even grander story which encompasses them all. Please come and relive the tale with the artist, here at McKay Imaging Gallery on September 25th. This show runs until November 12, 2009.

 

Artist’s Statement

Marcia Resnick is a New York City photographer and educator. Her images have been shown internationally in galleries and are in major museum collections. Her work has been published in numerous counterculture books and periodicals, from the Paris Review to Rolling Stone Magazine, as well as in her self-published artist books and her photo-auto-biography, Re-visions. Her forthcoming book, Bad Boys: A Compendium of Punks, Poets and Powerful People, examines power, fame and sexuality in addition to the ironic gamut of meanings for the word bad, from evil to naughty to really cool to good. It is their quality of badness which renders Resnick’s subjects formidable to their opponents and endearing to their admirers. Her confrontational images echo the primordial audacity of punk music and punk style. The art, literary and rock-and-roll worlds feature prominently in her work, which includes portraits of such enfants terribles as Andy Warhol, William Burroughs, John Belushi, Mick Jagger.

Resnick defines a photo session as … “a kind of conversation. Photographic portraiture reveals how humans relate to each other, whether it be with deliberate staged artifice or with an abandonment of contrivance, revealing hints of genuine honesty. The viewer in turn, enters into the exchange while forming his own visceral relationship with the subject.”

Resnick is an alumnus of the Cooper Union. She received an MFA from California Institute of the Arts and has taught photography at Queens College, ICP, Pratt and NYU, amongst others. The recipient of a CAPS and two NEA grants, she was the subject of an award winning short film, Bad Boys by Ron Mann and a video by Marjan Maggadan. Resnick’s work is published by Fotofolio in a series of postcards and is licensed by Retna, Ltd.

Wow, this is why we love our job so much. It offers us so many rich experiences and new adventures. We were absolutely thrilled to photograph our first Muslim wedding, just this past May 24th. Hanna's family is from Pakistan and Greg is a Mexican/American. Greg converted to Islam out of love for Hanna and the ceremony was at the Al~Nasr Mosque in Willingboro NJ. The men and women, including the bride and groom, were separated during the service and so I photographed the women downstairs, while Bob covered the men on the second floor. Hanna and Greg saw each other for the first time, shortly after the ceremony, in a room adorned in Persian decour and friends and family took turns coming into the room and sitting for portraits. From the mosque we all jetted by bus to Rittenhouse Square Park in Philadelphia for more pictures and more fun. Philly was beautiful but not as beautiful as the bride...   : )

We are a bit behind, but we still wanted to share some of the things we have been doing. We photographed Suzanne and Michael's wedding on May 23rd. We spent an incredible day together and despite all the fog that rolled in right after the ceremony at "Church of the Precious Blood" in Monmouth Beach, we headed to the ocean for some awesome portraits. Suzanne, Michael and the bridal party were fun and animated.The reception was at the Pier House at Pier Village. Check out the programs and the menu cards - the grooms sister desinged them specially for them! Thanks for a wonderful time. Please enjoy the slide show - be patient, it takes a few moments to load.

We woke up on March 20th with warm memories of a fine whether forecast dancing in our heads from the night before. One look out the window however revealed a blizzard of big, fat snowflakes falling from a grey sky... right then we knew that it was going to be an exciting day. We liked Greg & Melissa from the first day we met them, just as the friends that referred them said we would. By the time we arrived at the bride and grooms house, the clouds gave way to a beautiful sunny day. After the ceremony at St. Leo's church in Lincroft we raced to Deepcut Gardens for pictures of the bridalparty. The reception was at Addison Park in Aberdeen - one our favorite places around here. The party rocked and the staff there was phenomenal, thanks Dominick... Of course Mike Simons of Mike Simos Video was great to work with as always. Thanks to Greg & Melissa and their families for making it a fun day for the two of us...

Liz and I were lucky enough recently to photograph the most recent album cover for folk/rock legend Steve Forbert! That's right, Jack Rabbit Slim (for you older folks)! This new studio CD is called "The Place and the Time" and you can hear clips from it by clicking HERE or you can find Steve also on You Tube and I-Tunes.

Audra and Dan's wedding, in December of 2008 was our last wedding of the season. For us, it is always a time of celebration, a time when we feel that we are closing out another successful year and looking forward to the year to come. We were, however, looking forward to this wedding for a couple of other reasons as well; not only were Dan & Audra really nice and very cool but they love photography and we're about to have a really fun and beautiful wedding. 

We started at their homes with getting ready shots, Liz, with Audra and the girls and I, with Dan and the boys. The soon-to-be bride and groom made it clear at the house, that it was just as important to shoot the dogs as anything else so we had fun getting both species looking good for the camera. Then it was off the the new ST. MARY'S CHURCH in Middletown for the a beautiful ceremony in the round. Audra, really, really wanted some pictures in DEEP CUT PARK so we dashed away from the church, racing the sun and braving the chilly weather, just in time to get some awesome shots. But the cherry on the cake was the reception at THE NEWARK CLUB. From the 22nd floor, the lights of the city melded with candlelight and twinkling Christmas lights to create a stunning backdrop for a very memorable party. 

Did I mention that we have the best job in the world? Thanks so much to Dan, Audra and their families for treating us so well and helping us to close out the year right!

Elizabeth & Michael got hitched right on the border. No, I don't mean Mexico. The ceremony was at a beautiful church in Ramsey, NJ; and then, the celebration took place, just a 1/2 hour away, in TUXEDO PARK, NY. If you've never been there, you're not alone. It's a gated community with more than 300 gorgeous homes on 3 lovely lakes. Mark Twain used to "Summer" there, for cryin' out loud! The Tuxedo Park clubhouse was the perfect setting for a wedding party, it was a perfect day and a perfectly great time was had by all; Liz and I included. : )